___The Official AVATAR___________________________________
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     ________________________________________ 18 Nov, 2001 ___

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     Table of Contents
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          1. Welcome by Dizzy & Loggins and Messina

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     1. Welcome, River
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In the summer of 1974, I traveled from Anchorage Alaska to Greenville
South Carolina to attend college at a little backwater school in the
foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains.  I was 18 years old (do the
math), didn't know anyone closer than a few hundred miles from where I'd
landed, didn't fit in linguistically, and was a lovely shade of
fish-belly white from my years in Alaska.  People actually thought I was
an albino Yankee.  I'm not positive, but its probable, based on stares I
was favored with from the indigenous population that they believed me to
be Nanook of the North and were invariably impressed when I was able to
form complete sentences.

There she was.  It was my first Sunday in the church that was affiliated
with my school, and I plopped down on the front pew so folks could get a
Really Good Look.  I looked up into the choir and THERE SHE WAS.  1500
other worshipers crowded the auditorium, but we could only spare
attention for one another.  Within a month I'd discovered that she had a
brother, made friends with him and through his mediation, arranged to
meet and date her.  Inside of another two months I was convinced that I
couldn't live without her and proposed marriage to Debbie.

Half a century earlier Poppa Mull married Debbie's grandmother and they
began producing children at an impressive rate.  Their third born was
Sadie, and 18 years later she married Eugene Mullinax. So, a Mull
married a Mullinax. Cool, eh?  Sadie and Eugene also obeyed the command
to be fruitful and multiply, and their second born was Debbie.  Right!
She was the girl in the choir, and her maiden name was Mullinax.  My
name is Mullins.. Mull, Mullinax, Mullins.. Its possible that there more
than a little inbreeding in our woodpile, but I'm not particularly
concerned about it.  All that to introduce you to the newest addition to
our extended family: River Thomas Mullinax born on Saturday 11/17/2001
at 2:20PM EST to Rick (Debbie's brother who masterminded our first
date!) and Lori Mullinax.

Welcome, River. and my friends Loggins & Messina expressed it this way:

If you've been thinking you're all that you've got, 
   then don't feel alone anymore.
Cause when we're together then you've got a lot, 
   cause I am the river and you are the shore.

And it goes on and on, oh watching the river run;
   further and further from things that we've done, leaving them one by
one.
And we have just begun, watching the river run; 
   listening, and learning, and yearning, run river, run.

Winding, and swirling, and dancing along; 
   we pass by the old willow tree.
Where lovers caress as we sing them our song; 
   rejoicing together when we reach the sea.

And it goes on and on, oh watching the river run;
   further and further from things that we've done, leaving them one by
one.
And we have just begun, watching the river run; 
   listening, and learning, and yearning, run river, run.